Donald E. Westlake Books In Order

Phil Crawford Books In Publication Order

  1. Backstage Love (1959)
  2. What Girls Will Do (1962)

Parker Books In Publication Order

  1. Payback / Point Blank / The Hunter (1962)
  2. The Steel Hit / The Man With The Getaway Face (1963)
  3. The Outfit (1963)
  4. The Mourner (1963)
  5. The Score / Killtown (1963)
  6. The Jugger (1965)
  7. The Seventh / The Split (1966)
  8. The Handle / Run Lethal (1966)
  9. The Rare Coin Score (1967)
  10. The Green Eagle Score (1967)
  11. The Black Ice Score (1968)
  12. The Sour Lemon Score (1969)
  13. Slayground (1971)
  14. Deadly Edge (1971)
  15. Plunder Squad (1972)
  16. Butcher’s Moon (1974)
  17. Comeback (1997)
  18. Backflash (1998)
  19. Flashfire / Parker (2000)
  20. Firebreak (2001)
  21. Breakout (2002)
  22. Nobody Runs Forever (2004)
  23. Ask The Parrot (2006)
  24. Dirty Money (2008)

Mitch Tobin Books In Publication Order

  1. Kinds Of Love, Kinds Of Death (1966)
  2. Murder Among Children (1967)
  3. Wax Apple (1970)
  4. A Jade In Aries (1970)
  5. Don’t Lie To Me (1972)

Alan Grofield Books In Publication Order

  1. The Damsel (1967)
  2. The Dame (1969)
  3. The Blackbird (1969)
  4. Lemons Never Lie (1971)

Dortmunder Books In Publication Order

  1. The Hot Rock (1970)
  2. Bank Shot (1972)
  3. Jimmy The Kid (1974)
  4. Nobody’s Perfect (1977)
  5. Why Me? (1983)
  6. Good Behavior (1985)
  7. Drowned Hopes (1990)
  8. Don’t Ask (1993)
  9. What’s The Worst That Could Happen? (1996)
  10. Bad News (2001)
  11. The Road To Ruin (2004)
  12. Watch Your Back! (2005)
  13. What’s So Funny? (2007)
  14. Get Real (2009)

Sam Holt Books In Publication Order

  1. One Of Us Is Wrong (1986)
  2. I Know A Trick Worth Two Of That (1986)
  3. What I Tell You Three Times Is False (1987)
  4. The Fourth Dimension Is Death (1989)

Sara & Jack Books In Publication Order

  1. Trust Me On This (1988)
  2. Baby, Would I Lie? (1994)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Sally (1959)
  2. Man Hungry (1959)
  3. All My Lovers (1959)
  4. SO WILLING. (1960)
  5. All about Annette (1960)
  6. Virgin’s Summer (1960)
  7. The Wife Next Door (1960)
  8. The Mercenaries/The Cutie (1960)
  9. Passion’s Playthings (1961)
  10. Call Me Sinner (1961)
  11. Campus Doll (1961)
  12. Brother and Sister (1961)
  13. Killing Time (1961)
  14. Young and Innocent (1961)
  15. 361 (1962)
  16. Strange affair. (1962)
  17. Killy (1963)
  18. Campus Lovers (1963)
  19. Pity Him Afterwards (1964)
  20. The Fugitive Pigeon (1965)
  21. The Busy Body (1966)
  22. Spy in the Ointment (1966)
  23. God Save the Mark (1967)
  24. Anarchaos (1967)
  25. Philip (1967)
  26. Who stole Sassi Manoon? (1968)
  27. Up Your Banners (1969)
  28. Somebody Owes Me Money (1969)
  29. Adios Scheherazade (1970)
  30. Comfort Station (1970)
  31. Ex Officio (1970)
  32. I Gave at the Office (1971)
  33. Cops and Robbers (1972)
  34. Gangway! (With: ) (1973)
  35. Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner (1974)
  36. Brothers Keepers (1975)
  37. Two Much (1975)
  38. Dancing Aztecs (1976)
  39. Castle in the Air (1980)
  40. Kahawa (1981)
  41. A Likely Story (1984)
  42. High Adventure (1985)
  43. Humans (1992)
  44. Smoke (1995)
  45. The Ax (1997)
  46. The Hook (2000)
  47. The Scared Stiff (2001)
  48. Put a Lid on It (2002)
  49. Money for Nothing (2003)
  50. Memory (2010)
  51. The Comedy is Finished (2012)
  52. Forever and a Death (2017)
  53. Call Me a Cab (2022)

Short Story Collections In Publication Order

  1. Curious Facts Preceding My Execution (1968)
  2. Enough (1977)
  3. Tomorrow’s Crimes (1989)
  4. A Good Story and Other Stories (1999)
  5. Meteor Strike (2012)
  6. Double Feature (2020)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. The Getaway Car (2014)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Books In Publication Order

  1. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Go Bump in the Night (By:) (1940)
  2. Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV (By:) (1957)
  3. Alfred Hitchcock Presents 13 More Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV (By:Robert Bloch,,Ray Bradbury,Robert Arthur,,Roald Dahl,,,,,,,James Francis Dwyer) (1957)
  4. 12 Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV (By:Robert Arthur) (1957)
  5. Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories for Late at Night (By:Robert Arthur) (1961)
  6. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: More Stories for Late at Night [Unabridged] (By:) (1962)
  7. Alfred Hitchcock’s A Hangman’s Dozen (As: Richard Stark, With: ,,Ray Bradbury,Robert Arthur,Richard Matheson) (1962)
  8. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories My Mother Never Told Me (By:Shirley Jackson,Robert Arthur,Richard Matheson,F. Scott Fitzgerald) (1963)
  9. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories Not for the Nervous (By:Ellis Peters,Dorothy L Sayers,,,Ray Bradbury,,Robert Arthur,Richard Matheson,,Michael Gilbert,,,Carter Dickson,,Julian May,,,,,,,,Margot Bennett) (1965)
  10. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Month Of Mystery (By:) (1970)
  11. Down by the Old Blood Stream (By:) (1971)
  12. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Master’s Choice. (By:) (1979)
  13. Stories That Go Bump In The Night: V. 1 (By:) (1982)

Fearless Jones Books In Publication Order

  1. The Plot Thickens (With: Janet Evanovich,Lawrence Block,Linda Fairstein,Nelson DeMille,Mary Higgins Clark,Carol Higgins Clark,Nancy Pickard,Walter Mosley,Edna Buchanan,Ann Rule) (1997)
  2. Fearless Jones (By:Walter Mosley) (2001)
  3. Fear Itself (By:Walter Mosley) (2003)
  4. Fear of the Dark (By:Walter Mosley) (2006)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. Tales to Send Chills Down Your Spine (1979)
  2. The Plot Thickens (1997)

Phil Crawford Book Covers

Parker Book Covers

Mitch Tobin Book Covers

Alan Grofield Book Covers

Dortmunder Book Covers

Sam Holt Book Covers

Sara & Jack Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Short Story Collections Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Book Covers

Fearless Jones Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Donald E. Westlake Books Overview

Payback / Point Blank / The Hunter

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. In The Hunter, the first volume in the series, Parker roars into New York City, seeking revenge on the woman who betrayed him and on the man who took his money, stealing and scamming his way to redemption. Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Elmore Leonard wouldn t write what he does if Stark hadn t been there before. And Quentin Tarantino wouldn t write what he does without Leonard…
. Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better. Los Angeles Times Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block 20081005

The Steel Hit / The Man With The Getaway Face

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. Parker goes under the knife in The Man with the Getaway Face, changing his face to escape the mob and a contract on his life. Along the way he scores his biggest heist yet: an armored car in New Jersey, stuffed with cash. Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Elmore Leonard wouldn t write what he does if Stark hadn t been there before. And Quentin Tarantino wouldn t write what he does without Leonard…
. Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better. Los Angeles Times Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block

The Outfit

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack.
They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after.
Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to.
In The Outfit, Parker goes toe to toe with the mob hitting them with heist after heist after heist and the entire underworld learns an unforgettable lesson: whatever Parker does, he does deadly.

Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World

Elmore Leonard wouldn t write what he does if Stark hadn t been there before. And Quentin Tarantino wouldn t write what he does without Leonard…
. Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better. Los Angeles Times

Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block

The Mourner

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing; his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. This season s offerings include volumes 4 6 in the series: The Mourner, The Score, and The Jugger. The Mourner is a story of convergence of cultures and of guys with guns. Hot on the trail of a statue stolen from a fifteenth century French tomb, Parker enters a world of eccentric art collectors, greedy foreign officials, and shady KGB agents. Next, Parker works with a group of professional con men in The Score on his biggest job yet robbing an entire town in North Dakota. In The Jugger, Parker travels to Nebraska to help out a geriatric safecracker who knows too many of his criminal secrets. By the time he arrives, the safecracker is dead and Parker s skeletons are on the verge of escaping from their closet unless Parker resorts to lethal measures. Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block 20090417

The Score / Killtown

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing; his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. Parker works with a group of professional con men in The Score on his biggest job yet robbing an entire town in North Dakota. Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block 20090417

The Jugger

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing; his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. This season s offerings include volumes 4 6 in the series: The Mourner, The Score, and The Jugger. The Mourner is a story of convergence of cultures and of guys with guns. Hot on the trail of a statue stolen from a fifteenth century French tomb, Parker enters a world of eccentric art collectors, greedy foreign officials, and shady KGB agents. Next, Parker works with a group of professional con men in The Score on his biggest job yet robbing an entire town in North Dakota. In The Jugger, Parker travels to Nebraska to help out a geriatric safecracker who knows too many of his criminal secrets. By the time he arrives, the safecracker is dead and Parker s skeletons are on the verge of escaping from their closet unless Parker resorts to lethal measures. Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block 20090417

The Seventh / The Split

Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark’s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. This season s offerings include volumes 7 9 in the series: The Seventh, The Handle, and The Rare Coin Score. In The Seventh, the heist of a college football game goes bad, and the take is stolen by a crazed, violent amateur. Parker must outrun the cops and the killer to retrieve his cash. In The Handle, Parker is enlisted by the mob to knock off an island casino guarded by speedboats and heavies, forty miles from the Texas coast. The Rare Coin Score features the first appearance of Claire, who will steal Parker s heister s heart while together they steal two million dollars of rare coins. Parker…
lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark s noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells…
. In a complex world he makes things simple. William Grimes, New York Times Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block Also available from the University of Chicago Press:The HunterThe Man with the Getaway FaceThe OutfitThe MournerThe JuggerThe Score 20091214

The Handle / Run Lethal

Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark’s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. This season s offerings include volumes 7 9 in the series: The Seventh, The Handle, and The Rare Coin Score.

In The Seventh, the heist of a college football game goes bad, and the take is stolen by a crazed, violent amateur. Parker must outrun the cops and the killer to retrieve his cash. In The Handle, Parker is enlisted by the mob to knock off an island casino guarded by speedboats and heavies, forty miles from the Texas coast. The Rare Coin Score features the first appearance of Claire, who will steal Parker s heister s heart while together they steal two million dollars of rare coins.

Parker…
lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark s noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells…
. In a complex world he makes things simple. William Grimes, New York Times

Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard

Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World

Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block

Also available from the University of Chicago Press:

The Hunter

The Man with the Getaway Face

The Outfit

The Mourner

The Jugger

The Score

The Rare Coin Score

Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark’s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. This season s offerings include volumes 7 9 in the series: The Seventh, The Handle, and The Rare Coin Score. In The Seventh, the heist of a college football game goes bad, and the take is stolen by a crazed, violent amateur. Parker must outrun the cops and the killer to retrieve his cash. In The Handle, Parker is enlisted by the mob to knock off an island casino guarded by speedboats and heavies, forty miles from the Texas coast. The Rare Coin Score features the first appearance of Claire, who will steal Parker s heister s heart while together they steal two million dollars of rare coins. Parker…
lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark s noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells…
. In a complex world he makes things simple. William Grimes, New York Times Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block Also available from the University of Chicago Press:The HunterThe Man with the Getaway FaceThe OutfitThe MournerThe JuggerThe Score

The Green Eagle Score

Here’s Parker planning to steal the entire payroll of an Air Force base in upstate New York, with help from Marty Fusco, fresh out of the pen, and a smart aleck finance clerk named Devers. Holed up with family in a scrappy little town, the hoisters prepare for the risky job by trying to shorten the odds. But the ice is thinner than Parker likes to think and Marty s ex wife is much more complicated. Parker is refreshingly amoral, a thief who always gets away with the swag. Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World

The Black Ice Score

You probably haven t ever noticed them. But they ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade, he is the heister s heister, the robber s robber, the heavy s heavy. You don t want to cross him, and you don t want to get in his way, because he ll stop at nothing to get what he s after. Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark s eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor sharp prose style and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency Stark is a master of crime writing; his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover and become addicted to. This season s offerings include volumes 4 6 in the series: The Mourner, The Score, and The Jugger. The Mourner is a story of convergence of cultures and of guys with guns. Hot on the trail of a statue stolen from a fifteenth century French tomb, Parker enters a world of eccentric art collectors, greedy foreign officials, and shady KGB agents. Next, Parker works with a group of professional con men in The Score on his biggest job yet robbing an entire town in North Dakota. In The Jugger, Parker travels to Nebraska to help out a geriatric safecracker who knows too many of his criminal secrets. By the time he arrives, the safecracker is dead and Parker s skeletons are on the verge of escaping from their closet unless Parker resorts to lethal measures. Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible. Washington Post Book World Donald Westlake s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust these are the books you ll want on that desert island. Lawrence Block 20090417

The Sour Lemon Score

Bank robberies should run like clockwork, right? If your name’s Parker, you expect nothing less. Until, that is, one of your partners gets too greedy for his own good. The four way split following a job leaves too small a take for George Uhl, who begins to pick off his fellow hoisters, one by one. The first mistake? That he doesn t begin things by putting a bullet in Parker. That means he won t get the chance to make a second. One of the darkest novels in the series, this caper proves the adage that no one crosses Parker and lives Whatever Stark writes, I read. He s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude. Elmore Leonard The non hero: the ruthless, unrepentant, single minded operator in a humorless and amoral world…
. No one depicts this scene with greater clarity than Richard Stark. The New York Times

Slayground

By the time Richard Stark sat down to write ‘Deadly Edge’ in 1971, he’d been chronicling the adventures of his antihero, Parker, for nearly a decade. But it turns out he was just warming up: the next three ‘Parker’ novels would see Stark crank everything up a notch tightening the writing, heightening the violence, and, most of all, hardening the deadly heister at the books’ heart. ‘Deadly Edge’ kicks things off by bidding a brutal adieu to the 1960s: Parker robs a rock concert, but the heist goes sour, and he finds himself and his woman, Claire menaced by a pair of sad*istic, drug crazed hippies. Slayground turns the hunter into prey, as Parker gets trapped in a shuttered amuseme*nt park, besieged by a bevy of local mobsters. He’s low on bullets but, as anyone who’s crossed his path knows, that definitely doesn’t mean he’s defenseless. Finally, in Plunder Squad, job after job disintegrates into failure and violence, and a rare act of mercy from earlier in the series comes back to bite Parker hard. These books by Stark reveal a master craftsman working at the height of his powers, and they deserve a place on the bookshelf of every fan of crime fiction.

Deadly Edge

By the time Richard Stark sat down to write ‘Deadly Edge‘ in 1971, he’d been chronicling the adventures of his antihero, Parker, for nearly a decade. But it turns out he was just warming up: the next three ‘Parker’ novels would see Stark crank everything up a notch tightening the writing, heightening the violence, and, most of all, hardening the deadly heister at the books’ heart. ‘Deadly Edge‘ kicks things off by bidding a brutal adieu to the 1960s: Parker robs a rock concert, but the heist goes sour, and he finds himself and his woman, Claire menaced by a pair of sad*istic, drug crazed hippies. Slayground turns the hunter into prey, as Parker gets trapped in a shuttered amuseme*nt park, besieged by a bevy of local mobsters. He’s low on bullets but, as anyone who’s crossed his path knows, that definitely doesn’t mean he’s defenseless. Finally, in Plunder Squad, job after job disintegrates into failure and violence, and a rare act of mercy from earlier in the series comes back to bite Parker hard. These books by Stark reveal a master craftsman working at the height of his powers, and they deserve a place on the bookshelf of every fan of crime fiction.

Plunder Squad

By the time Richard Stark sat down to write ‘Deadly Edge’ in 1971, he’d been chronicling the adventures of his antihero, Parker, for nearly a decade. But it turns out he was just warming up: the next three ‘Parker’ novels would see Stark crank everything up a notch tightening the writing, heightening the violence, and, most of all, hardening the deadly heister at the books’ heart. ‘Deadly Edge’ kicks things off by bidding a brutal adieu to the 1960s: Parker robs a rock concert, but the heist goes sour, and he finds himself and his woman, Claire menaced by a pair of sad*istic, drug crazed hippies. Slayground turns the hunter into prey, as Parker gets trapped in a shuttered amuseme*nt park, besieged by a bevy of local mobsters. He’s low on bullets but, as anyone who’s crossed his path knows, that definitely doesn’t mean he’s defenseless. Finally, in Plunder Squad, job after job disintegrates into failure and violence, and a rare act of mercy from earlier in the series comes back to bite Parker hard. These books by Stark reveal a master craftsman working at the height of his powers, and they deserve a place on the bookshelf of every fan of crime fiction.

Butcher’s Moon

The sixteenth Parker novel, Butcher’s Moon is more than twice as long most of the master heister s adventures, and absolutely jammed with the action, violence, and nerve jangling tension readers have come to expect. Back in the corrupt town where he lost his money, and nearly his life, in Slayground, Parker assembles a stunning cast of characters from throughout his career for one gigantic, blowout job: starting and finishing a gang war. It feels like the Parker novel to end all Parker novels, and for nearly twenty five years that s what it was. After its publication in 1974, Donald Westlake said, Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone. Featuring a new introduction by Westlake s close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventures deserve a place of honor on any crime fan s bookshelf. More than thirty five years later, Butcher’s Moon still packs a punch: keep your calendar clear when you pick it up, because once you open it you won’t want to do anything but read until the last shot is fired.

Comeback

After the bloodbath of Butcher’s Moon, the action filled blowout Parker adventure, Donald Westlake said, ‘Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.’ And for nearly twenty five years, he stayed away, while readers waited. But nothing bad is truly gone forever, and Parker’s as bad as they come. According to Westlake, one day in 1997, ‘suddenly, he came back from the dead, with a chalky prison pallor’ and the resulting novel, Comeback, showed that neither Stark nor Parker had lost a single step. Knocking over a highly lucrative religious revival show, Parker reminds us that not all criminals don ski masks some prefer to hide behind the wings of fallen angels.

Backflash

A large part of the pleasure of having Richard Stark back writing aboutthe master criminal Parker is the obvious delight that Stark a pen name forDonald Westlake takes in doing the research for his capers. This one must have been a blast. Certainly, he must have spent time on board a cruise ship to get all the inside details for Parker’s planned robbery of a fictional floating casino called the Spirit of the Hudson details such as how to get the cash off inside a wheelchair’s converted potty seat or how to make use of a hard shelled female publicist. Then there must have been a tour of old towns along the Hudson, to come up with this letter perfect description of a seedy saloon: ‘It was called the Lido, but it shouldn’t have been. It was an old bar, a gray wood cube cut deep into the ground floor of a narrow 19th Century brick house, and at two on a sunny afternoon in April it was dark and dry, smelling of old whiskey and dead wood…
. At the bar, muttering together about sports and politics other people’s victories and defeats were nine or ten shabbily dressed guys who were older than their teeth.’After Comeback Parker’s triumphant return to action after a 20 year hiatus, readers know that all the best planning in the world can’t account for fate or human weakness. This time, a weirdly motivated retired civil servant, an out of control smalltown cop, and some greedy bikers stand in the way of Parker and Co.’s successful removal of $400,000 from the gambling boat. Stark is too gifted an artist to make their intervention trivial, and also too talented an entertainer to leave his old and new Parker fans unsatisfied with the outcome. Dick Adler

Flashfire / Parker

Richard Stark’s professional criminal, Parker, is so hard boiled hecould make an egg cry. Blunt and matter of fact the less charitable might saycold and calculating, he has perfected the art of theft. Unfortunately,perfection can be a relative term, a concept made vulnerable by the honor orlack thereof among thieves. When Parker joins forces with three other crooks torob a Nebraska bank, he’s prepared for a gentlemanly division of the proceeds,not for a double cross. But his colleagues have other plans for his share: itwill be their seed money for a $12 million Palm Beach jewel heist. What’s Parkerto do but make his own plans to steal the Palm Beach loot from the double crossers?Working his way across the Southeast in a series of carefully executed robberiesand changes of identity, Parker arrives in Palm Beach, where he finds morebarriers along the path of revenge than he could have imagined. Chief amongthem: a diabolically clever plan by his former partners; a real estate agentnamed Leslie with an unfortunately sharp sense of character; and a team ofprofessional hit men out for Parker’s blood but why?. In his third outing after a long retirement by Stark the pen name of Donald E. Westlake, revered for the comic capers of his bumbling crook, Dortmunder,Parker is in fine form: steely, sardonic, detached. Stark’s acidly funnydepictions of Palm Beach and its native fauna are a bonus: Alice Prester Young knew she was a herd animal, and enjoyed theknowledge, because the herd she moved with was the very best herd in allthe world. For instance, here she was, at five thirty this Thursday afternoon,in her chauffeured Daimler, with her new husband, the delicious Jack, to pick upjust the perfect jewelry for tonight’s pre auction ball, and she knewwhen she arrived at the bank she would be surrounded by her own kind,chauffeured and cosseted women with attractive escorts, all coming to the bankthe only bank one could use, really because this particular bank stayed openlate whenever there was an important ball in town, just so the herd could comeget its jewelry out of the safe deposit boxes. Not to be missed by fans of gritty noir, nor by those who prefer their crimecocktails with a comic twist: Stark and Parker will give you both. KellyFlynn

Firebreak

When the telephone rang, Parker was out in the garage killing a man. Someone from his past had hired a soon to be departed assassinand Parker wasnt one to give a guy a second chance. But where theres one cockroach, a whole nest isnt far behind. Now, with one eye over his shoulder, Parkers gotta keep focused on the project at hand: breaking into a computer moguls compound to retrieve some priceless, purloined works of art. Parker is feeling the pressure, but thankfully, hes always at his dead on best when hes got a deadline.

Breakout

One Way in. No Way Out. Even master criminals make mistakes. Parker’s most recent sin has landed him in prison, where it’s only a matter of time before the law uncovers his real name and the extent of his astounding criminal career. To escape, Parker must ignore one of his cardinal rules and take on the only partners he can find. Yet his fellow convicts demand a price: the moment they get free, they want Parker to help them break into a former armory now storing a mother lode of precious gems. For Parker, the plan includes too many people, too many complications, and too many weak links. But with a potential big payoff just ahead, Parker is willing to jump out of the frying pan, into the fire, and onto a scheme that will soon pit every man against every other. Just the way Parker likes it…

Nobody Runs Forever

Master criminal Parker is back and in deeper, darker trouble than ever before. The classic anti hero is forced to use every trick in his dubious arsenal to avoid having to pay the ultimate price for his questionable line of work.

Ask The Parrot

Sometimes mystery master Donald E. Westlake is the author of uproarious crime capers. Sometimes he has a mean streak and its name is Parker. From his noir classic The Man with the Getaway Face to his recent novel Nobody Runs Forever, whenever Westlake writes as Stark, he lets Parker run loose a ruthless criminal in a world of vulnerable ‘straights.’ On a sunny October afternoon a man is running up a hill. He’s not dressed for running. Below him are barking police dogs and waiting up ahead is a stranger with a rifle, a life full of regrets, and a parrot at home who will mutely witness just how much trouble the runner, Parker, can bring into an ordinary life. The rabbit hunter is Tom Lindahl, a small town lonely heart nursing a big time grudge against the racetrack that fired him. He knows from the moment he sees Parker that he’s met a professional thief and a man with murder in his blood. Rescuing Parker from the chase hounds, Lindahl invites the fugitive into his secluded home. He plans to rip off his former employer and exact a deadly measure of revenge if he can get Parker to help. But Tom doesn’t know Parker and that the desperate criminal will do anything to survive no matter who has to die…

Dirty Money

‘ One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century…
Richard Stark, real name Donald Westlake…
His Parker books form a genre all their own.’ John Banville, Booker Prize winning author of The SeaMaster criminal Parker takes another turn for the worse as he tries to recover loot from a heist gone terribly wrong. In Nobody Runs Forever, Parker and two cohorts stole the assets of a bank in transit, but the police heat was so great they could only escape if they left the money behind. In this follow up novel, Parker and his associates plot to reclaim the loot, which they hid in the choir loft of an unused country church. As they implement the plan, people on both sides of the law use the forces at their command to stop Parker and grab the goods for themselves. Though Parker’s new getaway van is an old Ford Econoline with ‘Holy Redeemer Choir’ on its doors, his gang is anything but holy, and Parker will do whatever it takes to redeem his prize, no matter who gets hurt in the process. .

Murder Among Children

They were just kids really, too young to have adopted the requisite pretenses of adulthood. But they sensed a new age dawning so they dropped out, left home, and moved to New York City to do their own thing, which happened to be opening a Greenwich Village coffeehouse. All was going well until a cop stopped by with his hand out, and the partners freaked out one of them remembered she had a cousin who was a former police officer, a certain Mitch Tobin. Tobin was a different kind of dropout; he’d been expelled from the NYPD and middle aged cynicism had long ago replaced whatever youthful ideals he might have had. Awash in shame and self pity, Tobin does his thing by building a wall around his house in Queens. Yet when his cousin, Robin Kennely, begs for his help, Tobin reluctantly agrees to take the long subway ride into the city. Arriving at the coffeehouse, Tobin is met with a grisly scene: there’s been a double murder Robin’s boyfriend and a nameless prostitute have been brutally knifed. And Robin, covered in blood, is the police’s prime suspect.

The Hot Rock

This is the classic that introduced John Archibald Dortmunder, the thief whose capers never quite come off, as he and his convict friends plot to steal the fabulous Balaboma Emerald. They almost carry it off, but then the guy carrying the stone is picked up by the cops…
. HC: Random House.

Bank Shot

With the help of an unusual set of cronies, bank robber John Dortmunder puts a set of wheels under a trailer that just happens to be the temporary site of the Capitalists’ & Immigrants’ Trust and hauls it away. But when the safe won’t open and the cops get close, Dortmunder realizes he’s got to find a place to ditch the ‘bank.’ MASS MARKET PAPER

Jimmy The Kid

Bungling burglar John Dortmunder and his merry band of thieves are back in another classic, comic crime novel from the award winning author of the new hardcover Baby, Would I Lie? Dortmunder and his gang plan to kidnap precocious kid Jimmy Harrington with the help of a crime novel outlining the perfect caper. Reissue.

Why Me?

Having unsuspectingly lifted the hottest gem in town, John Dortmunder becomes the prey of the FBI, the New York City police, terrorist groups from three nations, and all of New York’s petty and not so petty crooks. PW. NYT.

Don’t Ask

With the planned heist of a religious relic, Dortmunder, the unluckiest criminal in the world, plunges into international diplomacy with a caper for acquiring a seat on the United Nations General Assembly. But a major fiasco proves a bone of contention and forces him to come up with Plan B. Dortmunder’s lucky ring is stolen in the bungled burglary of a nasty billionaire’s Long Island mansion. Now, a series of raids are planned to get the ring back and get even.

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

It started with a ring. A cheap ring. The yellow metal said brass, not gold, and the sparkly bits were certainly not diamonds. But the ring belonged to May’s horseplaying uncle, who swore it brought good luck. Dortmunder, who wouldn’t kick a little good luck out of bed, puts it to the test when he goes to burglarize Long Island billionaire Max Fairbanks. As luck would have it, Dortmunder is greeted by Fairbanks himself and a loaded gun as soon as he strolls through the door. When the cops arrive, the mogul adds insult to injury by claiming that Dortmunder’s lucky ring is actually his. Big mistake, big guy. As soon as Dortmunder can give the cops the slip, the world’s most single minded burglar goes after the fat cat with a vengeance and a team of crooks that only he can assemble. And from the get go everything will go Dortmunder’s way everything, that is, except the ring.

Bad News

Master crook John Dortmunder is offered a grand to dig up a grave in a Queens cemetery and switch the bodies of two 70 years dead Indians. Ex Vegas showgirl Little Feather Redcorn, one of the Indian’s great granddaughter, plans to pose as the last of the Pottaknobbee tribe, one third owners of the largest casino in the east. When the scam goes into play, it’s Dortmunder and his band who must make sure things run smoothly.

The Road To Ruin

Dortmunder fans can rejoice! Readers’ favorite seasoned and often hapless crook is back in this latest caper from one of America’s most popular mystery authors. This time John Dortmunder and his merry band of crooks return to the scene of the crime world in an attempt to steal a fleet of automobiles that would leave the Sultan of Brunei blushing. The mark is Monroe Hall; corrupt CEO of a now defunct conglomerate who spent more of his company’s money on himself than the boys at Enron and WorldCom combined. Having escaped prosecution, Hall is holed up on his massive Pennsylvania farm, and Dortmunder, as usual, has his eyes on the big prize: Hall’s vintage wheels.

Watch Your Back!

After a year on the lam, the return of bumbling thief Dortmunder is a cause celebre. The author’s most recent Dortmunder caper. ‘The Road to Ruin, and the short story collection, ‘Thieves’ Dozen, received rave reviews in the ‘New York Times Book Review, New York Daily News, and ‘Kirkus Reviews starred review, among other publications. ‘Money for Nothing Mysterious Press, 4/03 and ‘Put a Lid On It Mysterious Press, 2002, two stand alone mysteries, have sold over 68,000 hardcover and paperback copies combined. Hollywood loves Dortmunder, too. ‘What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito, was a major motion picture in 2001. Donald E. Westlake was named Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master 1993; has won Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Best Novel, Screenplay, and Short Story; and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for ‘The Grifters.

What’s So Funny?

In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake’s seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn’t want and doesn’t believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in…
What’s So Funny??


All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long lost gold and jewel studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over.


From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he’s nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

Get Real

In Donald E. Westlake’s classic caper novels, the bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his attention. However, being caught red handed is inevitable in Dortmunder’s next production, when a TV producer convinces this thief and his merry gang to do a reality show that captures their next score. The producer guarantees to find a way to keep the show from being used in evidence against them. They’re dubious, but the pay is good, so they take him up on his offer.A mock up of the OJ bar is built in a warehouse down on Varick Street. The ground floor of that building is a big open space jumbled with vehicles used in TV world, everything from a news truck and a fire engine to a hansom cab without the horse. As the gang plans their next move with the cameras rolling, Dortmunder and Kelp sneak onto the roof of their new studio to organize a private enterprise. It will take an ingenious plan to outwit viewers glued to their television sets, but Dortmunder is nothing if not persistent, and he’s determined to end this shoot with money in his pockets.

One Of Us Is Wrong

Actor Sam Holt has packed in Packard, the TV detective he played for several years to much acclaim and lots and lots of money. But success has had its downside: Holt is so closely identified with Packard that he can t get hired to play anyone else. Suddenly, though, someone seems to have a new part for Holt: the role of Dead Body. Years of having watched stunt drivers do their stuff help Holt avoid becoming a grease spot on the San Diego Freeway, but his Volvo will never play the violin again. And if Holt can t figure out where the screenwriters are going with this one, he won t get the chance for a second take.

I Know A Trick Worth Two Of That

Sam Holt spent years playing Packard, everyone’s favorite TV detective; he s got no desire to play sleuth in real life. But when a long lost pal calls with a rant about conspiracies, sinister cargo ships, and hit men and then gets poisoned at a party full of Holt s closest friends there doesn t seem to be a lot of choice. Sure, Holt could leave it up to the cops and cross his fingers. But Packard would never have taken such a weenie s way out. And Holt, to his astonishment, finds that he can t either.

What I Tell You Three Times Is False

Sam Holt played TV detective Jack Packard for five years, and he doesn’t want to do it again. Not in a movie, not in dinner theater, not even in a commercial for the American Cancer Society. But his tough minded girlfriend It’s not about you has carried the day, and now he s stuck on an isolated island, hunting clues to a cancer cure alongside Charlie Chan, Miss Marple, and Sherlock Holmes. The script says they re doomed to failure translation: Donate money to cancer research. And when a genuine murder crops up, their sleuthing isn t likely to my much more successful; after all, these folks are not famous detectives, they just play em on TV. But with the cops cut off by a storm and a killer stalking the island, Holt and Co. must play detective for real.

The Fourth Dimension Is Death

He’s got buckets of money and two gorgeous girlfriends, but actor Sam Holt nevertheless deserves a little sympathy. He’s no longer playing Packard, the TV detective who made him famous, but he can t drum up another gig. And now some joker who looks like Holt is playing Packard in commercials for a chain of cut rate grocery stores. No wonder Holt’s a little peeved. Peevishness slides into paranoia when the joker gets his head bashed in just steps from Holt’s front door. At first the cops like Holt as the murderer was he peeved enough to do in his doppleganger? But when they start to see Holt as the intended victim, he takes matters into his own hands. Holt may never have been a real private eye, but with bad guys gunning for him, he s got to channel Packard and ride to his own rescue.

Trust Me On This

What would it take to lure a young newswoman from a respectable New England paper to the most notorious tabloid in America? How about the promise of a salary that’s triple what she’s making! En route to her new job at the Weekly Galaxy, Sarah Joslyn stumbles across a bloody corpse in a Buick Riviera. A big story? Not in this paper. Instead, Sara finds herself scheming over 100 year old twins and hunting down a mega star!

Baby, Would I Lie?

Intrepid reporter Sara Joslyn, having escaped the clutches of the supermarket tabloid Weekly Galaxy, is finally going to be allowed to practice ‘clean journalism.’ Unfortunately, intrepid editor Jack Ingersoll has other plans, assigning her to a gory sex murder trial in Branson, Missouri, home to more country stars than there are in the heavens. While delving into the muck, rake in hand, Sara runs into her old comrades from the Galaxy Binx Radwell, Boy Cartwright, and the Down Under Trio among them. At the eye of this journalistic cyclone is country musician Ray Jones; is he guilty of the grisly murder, and what else is he up to, if anything? The lyrics to eleven Ray Jones hits are sprinkled throughout the novel and are an important accompaniment to the proceedings, if only Sara and Jack can keep their fingers out of their ears long enough to hear it…

The Mercenaries/The Cutie

SOME PEOPLE WILL DO ANYTHING FOR MONEY

Mavis St. Paul had been a rich man’s mistress. Now she was a corpse. And every cop in New York City was hunting for the two-bit punk accused of putting a knife in her.

But the punk was innocent. He’d been set up to take the fall by some cutie who was too clever by half. My job? Find that cutie – before the cutie found me.

361

The men in the tan and cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray Kelly woke up in the hospital, it was a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad. From the mind of the incomparable Donald E. Westlake comes a devastating story of betrayal and revenge, an exploration of the limits of family loyalty and how far a man will go when everything he loves is taken from him.

Pity Him Afterwards

Hiding in the darkness of the trees, he was waiting for the state police car to move on, but it would not. Red lights filled the road below, flashlights began to search the woods around him. But he would not go back to Doctor Chax. He could take no more shocks. No more dying, day after day, and coming to life in pain. Whatever it takes, he will be free.

The Fugitive Pigeon

Charlie Poole has a serious case of ennui. Stuck tending bar at his gangster uncle’s Brooklyn saloon, he awakens from his slumber only when two hit men threaten to kill him. While on the lam, Charlie has to handle his Mafia uncle, stand up for himself, and come to terms with the beautiful woman who saves his life.

God Save the Mark

mark n. An easy victim; a ready subject for the practices of a confidence man, thief, beggar, etc.; a sucker. Dictionary of American Slang, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1960That’s the long definition of a mark. But there’s a shorter one. It goes: mark n. Fred FitchWhat, you ask, is a Fred Fitch? Well, for one thing, Fred Fitch is the man with the most extensive collection of fake receipts, phony bills of sale, and counterfeit sweepstakes tickets in the Western Hemisphere, and possibly in the entire world. For another thing, Fred Fitch may be the only New York City resident in the twentieth century to buy a money machine. When Barnum said, ‘There’s one born every minute, and two to take him,’ he didn’t know about Fred Fitch; when Fred Fitch was born, there were two million to take him. Every itinerant grifter, hypester, bunk artist, short conner, amuser, shearer, short changer, green goods worker, pennyweighter, ring dropper, and yentzer to hit New York City considers his trip incomplete until he’s also hit Fred Fitch. He’s sort of the con man’s version of Go: Pass Fred Fitch, collect two hundred dollars, and move on. What happens to Fred Fitch when his long lost Uncle Matt dies and leaves Fred three hundred thousand dollars shouldn’t happen to the ball in a pinball machine. Fred Fitch with three hundred thousand dollars is like a mouse with a sack of catnip: He’s likely to attract the wrong kind of attention. Add to this the fact that Uncle Matt was murdered, by person or persons unknown, and that someone now seems determined to murder Fred as well, mix in two daffily charming beauties of totally different types, and you have a perfect setup for the busiest fictional hero since the well known one armed paperhanger. As Fred Fitch careers across the New York City landscape and sometimes skyline in his meetings with cops, con men, beautiful girls, and maybe murderers, he takes on some of the loonier aspects of a Dante without a Virgil. Take one part comedy and one part suspense and shake well mostly with laughter.

Anarchaos

An early work by one of Science Fiction’s grand mastersAnarchaos is a planet, inhabited by humans, where anarchy is the only law; where each man protects himself as best he can; and where the weak are soon dead. Malone’s brother had dies that way, and Malone has come to Anarchaos, carrying a small arsenal of weapons, to find the man who killed him, knowing that he is facing an entire planet of enemies.

Somebody Owes Me Money

SOMETIMES WINNING FEELS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE LOSING.

Cab driver Chet Conway was hoping for a good tip from his latest fare, the sort he could spend. But what he got was a tip on a horse race. Which might have turned out okay, except that when he went to collect his winnings Chet found his bookie lying dead on the living room floor.

Chet knows he had nothing to do with it – but just try explaining that to the cops, to the two rival criminal gangs who each think Chet’s working for the other, and to the dead man’s beautiful sister, who has flown in from Las Vegas to avenge her brother’s murder…

Cops and Robbers

Two New York City policemen decide to try to pull off the perfect heist, but when they get involved with the Mob they discover how difficult it is be successful crooks. K. PW. NYT.

Dancing Aztecs

From the ‘master of the rolling scam,’ here is a hilarious crime caper set in New York. A hot hustler is searching for a million dollar Aztec sculpture that is accidentally mixed with cheap plaster copies. From Harlem to Greenwich, a motley cast chases the lost piece. Out of print since 1978. HC: M. Evans.

Kahawa

A mile long, rusty freight train with a cargo of coffee becomes an important target of some of the world’s most unscrupulous mercenaries and thieves, who plot to take over the international coffee market. NYT.

Humans

Disillusioned with His own creation, God has decided to wipe humanity out for good, but the rag tag collection of human misfits His chief angel has selected to trigger the Apocalypse will endanger this divine plan. NYT.

Smoke

A foiled burglary in a high tech lab turns the thieving Freddie Noon into an invisible man, making him the most wanted criminal in the country, sought after by bad guys and good guys alike. AB. NYT. PW.

The Ax

Fro 25 years, Burke Devore has provided for his family and played by the rules. Until now. Downsized from his job, Devore is slipping away: from his wife, his family, and from all civilized norms of behavior. He wants his life back, and will do anything to get it. In this relentlessly fascinating novel, the masterful Westlake takes readers on a journey of obsession and outrage inside a quiet man’s desperate world.

The Hook

Wayne Prentice is a midlist author who must face the hard fact that the world no longer values his work. He has watched a pseudonym, two careers, and his sales disappear and feels like it may be time to quit writing for good. On the other hand, Bryce Proctorr fires out one bestseller after the next and has a multi million dollar deal for his next book. Unfortunately, his divorce has given him writer’s block and Bryce cannot solve his dilemma as his deadline rapidly approaches. So, Bryce proposes a partnership to Wayne: give Bryce his unpublished manuscript and the two of them can split the advance 50/50. There’s just one small catch Wayne has to put Mrs. Proctorr six feet under.

Put a Lid on It

The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Ax and The Hook is back in rare form as he introduces Meehan, a character who keeps the lid from blowing off Washington politics. eehan, a career thief staring at life without parole, is awaiting sentencing at the Manhattan Correctional Center when he is called to a meeting by someone masquerading as his lawyer. The man, it turns out, represents the presidential re election campaign committeenow finding itself in need of a little professional help. So they outsource Meehan in return for a walk from all pending criminal charges. All he has to do is steal a compromising video tape before the other side springs an October Surprise on the president. A shrewd burglar, Meehan bites, and shows just how easy Watergate would have been had they left it to the professionals.

Money for Nothing

Josh Redmont was 27 when the first check arrived, and he had absolutely no idea what it was for. Issued by ‘United States Agent’ through an unnamed bank with an indeterminate address in D.C., someone seemed to think Josh was owed $1,000. One month later, another check arrived, and then another, and another…
and Josh cashed them all. Month after month, year after year, never a peep from the IRS, never an explanation for all this seemingly found money; the checks even followed Josh from one address to another as he moved through life. Now, after a full seven years, we find him on his way to meet the wife and kids for a summer vacation. Puzzled by the approach of a smiling stranger, Josh’s stomach seizes with dread when the unwanted greeting begins with, ‘I am from United States Agent.’ Dumbstruck, Josh attempts to feign ignorance until he hears the words, ‘You are now active.’

The Comedy is Finished

BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS. The year is 1977, and America is finally getting over the nightmares of Watergate and Vietnam and the national hangover that was the 1960s. But not everyone is ready to let it go. Not aging comedian Koo Davis, friend to generals and presidents and veteran of countless USO tours to buck up American troops in the field. And not the five remaining members of the self proclaimed People’s Revolutionary Army, who’ve decided that kidnapping Koo Davis would be the perfect way to bring their cause back to life…
The final, previously unpublished novel from the legendary Donald Westlake!

Curious Facts Preceding My Execution

NOT A CD! THIS IS THE LIMITED EDITION AUDIOTAPE CASSETTE OF THE HUMOROUS MURDER/MYSTERY STORY BY DONALD E. WESTLAKE NARRATED BY ARTE JOHNSON! ISBN 0 7871 0267 9 UPC 02291790020. 1991 DOVE AUDIO 90020. DIGITALLY MASTERED. DOLBY SYSTEM. APPROX. I HR. PLAYING TIME.

Tomorrow’s Crimes

Rare and intriguing tales makeup this collection of science fiction and fanta sy with elements of crime thrown in to spice up the plots. 4 cassettes.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Go Bump in the Night (By:)

Published by Random House. Per the dust jacket:…
twenty three stories, a novelette, and a novel guaranteed to turn your hair white overnight.’ Stories selected by Mr. Hitchcock include: Casablanca by Thomas M. Disch, Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb, Camera Obscura by Basil Copper, A Death in the Family by Miriam Allen deFord, Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh, Not With a Bang by Damon Knight, Party Games by John Burke, X Marks the Pedwalk by Fritz Leiber, Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond by Nugent Barker, Two Spinsters by E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Knife by Robert Arthur, The Cage by Ray Russell, It by Theodore Sturgeon, The Road to Mictlantecutli by Adobe James, Guide to Doom by Ellis Peters, The Estuary by Margaret St. Clair, Tough Town by William Sambrot, The Troll by T. H. White, Evening at the Black House by Robert Somerlott, One of the Dead by William Wood, The Real Thing by Robert Specht, Journey to Death by Donald E. Westlake, Master of the Hounds by Algis Budrys, The Candidate by Henry Slesar, and Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham.

Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV (By:)

Published by Random House. Per the dust jacket:…
twenty three stories, a novelette, and a novel guaranteed to turn your hair white overnight.’ Stories selected by Mr. Hitchcock include: Casablanca by Thomas M. Disch, Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb, Camera Obscura by Basil Copper, A Death in the Family by Miriam Allen deFord, Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh, Not With a Bang by Damon Knight, Party Games by John Burke, X Marks the Pedwalk by Fritz Leiber, Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond by Nugent Barker, Two Spinsters by E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Knife by Robert Arthur, The Cage by Ray Russell, It by Theodore Sturgeon, The Road to Mictlantecutli by Adobe James, Guide to Doom by Ellis Peters, The Estuary by Margaret St. Clair, Tough Town by William Sambrot, The Troll by T. H. White, Evening at the Black House by Robert Somerlott, One of the Dead by William Wood, The Real Thing by Robert Specht, Journey to Death by Donald E. Westlake, Master of the Hounds by Algis Budrys, The Candidate by Henry Slesar, and Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents 13 More Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV (By:Robert Bloch,,Ray Bradbury,Robert Arthur,,Roald Dahl,,,,,,,James Francis Dwyer)

Published by Random House. Per the dust jacket:…
twenty three stories, a novelette, and a novel guaranteed to turn your hair white overnight.’ Stories selected by Mr. Hitchcock include: Casablanca by Thomas M. Disch, Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb, Camera Obscura by Basil Copper, A Death in the Family by Miriam Allen deFord, Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh, Not With a Bang by Damon Knight, Party Games by John Burke, X Marks the Pedwalk by Fritz Leiber, Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond by Nugent Barker, Two Spinsters by E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Knife by Robert Arthur, The Cage by Ray Russell, It by Theodore Sturgeon, The Road to Mictlantecutli by Adobe James, Guide to Doom by Ellis Peters, The Estuary by Margaret St. Clair, Tough Town by William Sambrot, The Troll by T. H. White, Evening at the Black House by Robert Somerlott, One of the Dead by William Wood, The Real Thing by Robert Specht, Journey to Death by Donald E. Westlake, Master of the Hounds by Algis Budrys, The Candidate by Henry Slesar, and Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Master’s Choice. (By:)

Published by Random House. Per the dust jacket:…
twenty three stories, a novelette, and a novel guaranteed to turn your hair white overnight.’ Stories selected by Mr. Hitchcock include: Casablanca by Thomas M. Disch, Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb, Camera Obscura by Basil Copper, A Death in the Family by Miriam Allen deFord, Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh, Not With a Bang by Damon Knight, Party Games by John Burke, X Marks the Pedwalk by Fritz Leiber, Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond by Nugent Barker, Two Spinsters by E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Knife by Robert Arthur, The Cage by Ray Russell, It by Theodore Sturgeon, The Road to Mictlantecutli by Adobe James, Guide to Doom by Ellis Peters, The Estuary by Margaret St. Clair, Tough Town by William Sambrot, The Troll by T. H. White, Evening at the Black House by Robert Somerlott, One of the Dead by William Wood, The Real Thing by Robert Specht, Journey to Death by Donald E. Westlake, Master of the Hounds by Algis Budrys, The Candidate by Henry Slesar, and Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham.

The Plot Thickens (With: Janet Evanovich,Lawrence Block,Linda Fairstein,Nelson DeMille,Mary Higgins Clark,Carol Higgins Clark,Nancy Pickard,Walter Mosley,Edna Buchanan,Ann Rule)

Joining together for a good cause brings out the best in today’s top mystery and suspense writers! For this marvelously entertaining anthology, these outstanding contributors rose to a unique literary challenge: each penned a tale that ingeniously features a thick fog, a thick book, and a thick steak. The result is a collection of wonderfully imaginative tales that both chill the spine and warm the heart: proceeds from The Plot Thickens will help bring the gift of reading to millions of disadvantaged Americans.

Fearless Jones (By:Walter Mosley)

Penzler Pick, June 2001: Those of us who have been waiting for Walter Mosley to return to mystery writing and there are many of us have cause to rejoice. Not only has Mosley written a mystery, he is introducing a new character who could turn out to be as popular as Easy Rawlins. Fearless Jones has a lot in common with Easy, but he also has some characteristics reminiscent of Socrates Fortlow, the ‘hero’ of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. When the story begins, the reader is transported to the Los Angeles of the 1950s, a dangerous place and time for a black man. But Paris Minton seems to have beaten the odds. He owns a moderately successful and very satisfying business a used book store. He spends the time he’s not in the store scouring libraries for discarded books and selling them in just enough quantity to be independent and happy. Yes, he is visited on a regular basis by members of the LAPD who want him to prove to them that he did not steal the books, but that is a small price to pay for independence. Minton’s peaceful life is interrupted one day when a beautiful woman walks into his store and asks for the Reverend William Grove. In no time flat, Paris has been beaten into unconsciousness by a man following her and has been rewarded by the woman with sex. The lovely Elana Love is obviously trouble, but Paris jumps in feet first and, as a consequence, his store is burned to the ground. It is obviously time to call in Fearless Jones, a man well named. Jones is afraid of nothing, but there is a little matter to be taken care of before he can help. He’s in jail and Paris must raise bail to get him out. Once he does that, the pair embark on a wild ride through Los Angeles on behalf of Elana Love. As always, Mosley depicts the hard boiled L.A. in a powerful and distinctive way, and we can only hope that this is the first of a series. Otto Penzler

Fear Itself (By:Walter Mosley)

Paris Minton doesn’t want any trouble. He minds his used bookstore and his own business. But in 1950s Los Angeles, sometimes trouble finds him, no matter how hard he tries to avoid it. When the nephew of the wealthiest woman in L.A. is missing and wanted for murder, she has to get involved no matter if she can’t stand him. What will her church think? She hires Jefferson T. Hill, a former sheriff of Dawson, Texas, and a tough customer, to track him down and prove his innocence. When Hill goes missing too, she tricks his friend Fearless Jones and Paris Minton into picking up the case. Paris steps inside the world of the black bourgeoisie, and it turns out to be filled with deceit and corruption. It takes everything he has just to stay alive through a case filled with twists and turns and dead ends like he never imagined. Written with the voice and vision that have made Walter Mosley one of the most entertaining writers in America, FEAR ITSELF marks the return of a master at the top of his form.

Fear of the Dark (By:Walter Mosley)

Fearless Jones and Paris Minton, stars of the bestsellers Fearless Jones and Fear Itself, return in a fast paced thriller about family and revenge. For Paris Minton, a knock on his door is often the first sign of trouble. So when he finds his lowlife cousin, Ulysses S. Grant, or Useless, on the other side of his front door, Paris keeps it firmly closed. With family like Useless, who needs enemies? Yet trouble always finds an open window, and when Useless’s mother, Three Hearts, shows up to look for her son, Paris has no choice but to track down his wayward cousin. Turns out that Useless is involved in some high stakes blackmailing. Now, he and a briefcase full of money and incriminating photos are missing, and Paris is not the only one looking for him. Paris enlists the help of his invincible friend Fearless Jones, but mysterious women, desperate blackmail victims, and cheating business partners are all they encounter not to mention the dead bodies found along the way. With the sheer nerve plotting and brilliant characterizations that have made him one of the great stars of crime fiction, Fear of the Dark is masterful Mosley.

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